


Supergirl: Brainiac

by ThePeridotRanger



Series: Supergirl: Unlimited [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Hopeful Ending, No Romance, No Smut, Superheroes, Tragedy, based on a comic book story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:38:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8170237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePeridotRanger/pseuds/ThePeridotRanger
Summary: A horrible villain that attacked Krypton has set his sights on Earth. Kara is terrified of him and thinks that fighting is hopeless. Can she protect Earth and her cousin keeping her promise to her mother? Based off of the DCTV universe, the comic Superman: Brainiac, and the animated movie Superman: UnboundAlso posted on Fanfiction.net





	1. Superman Asks for Help?

It had been a year since Kara Danvers had been promoted from her position as an assistant at CatCo Worldwide Media. When Cat gave her the option of what job she wanted, it did not take long to figure out she wanted to do graphic design for CatCo. On Krypton her aunt, Lara Jor-El, was an artist as well as a scientist and she taught Kara. Lara would always say how impressed she was with how quickly Kara picked it up and how good she was at it. Here on Earth, people have told her that she has talent for art. After arriving on this planet, she used painting to help control her powers and keep the memory of Krypton alive. Her favorite thing to paint was landscapes of her old planet and portraits of her friends and family. It made her feel less alone on Earth.  
Despite all this, Kara was currently bringing her boss a latte. Cat Grant was going through assistant after assistant with none lasting more than a week. No one seemed to be able to reach the Queen of Media’s standards like Kara did. She had learned that she held the record for time as Cat’s assistant. So, Kara was kept busy her “new” job, her “old” job and her “secret” job, as she like to call them. Somehow she managed to do it though, probably because she did not need as much sleep with her Kryptonian DNA.  
“Here you go Miss. Grant.” Kara said as she placed the drink on Cat’s desk, but she was not paying attention. Cat was looking through files that completely covered her desk, intently researching something. Kara wanted to ask what she was doing, but it was no longer in her job description to know. As she began to leave, Cat called out, “Don’t worry about bringing me anything anymore it’s no longer your job. A new assistant is coming in later today.”  
“Of course Miss. Grant.” Kara replied. As she left to go to her own office she used her super hearing to clearly hear Cat say “Thank you anyway Kara” under her breath. Entering her office Kara looks up to see Winn and James waiting for her.  
“What’s up guys?” Kara asks.  
“Clark just called. He needs Supergirl.” James answers.  
“Apparently he’s been trying to reach you for an hour now.” Winn adds. Kara then pulls out her phone, which for some reason was on silent, to find fifteen missed calls from Clark and ten messages all asking her to call him. “Oh no!” she exclaims, “My phone was on silent! Let me go give him a call. Kara then dials her cousin’s number and waits patiently. It only took two rings before Clark picked up.  
“Kara! Finally I’ve been trying to contact you all morning.” He sounds panicked over the phone.  
“I know James and Winn told me. I’m so sorry my phone was on silent. What do you need my help with?” Kara replied trying to get to the root of her cousin’s distress.  
“I’m in the Fortress of Solitude. There was an attack in Metropolis from some alien robot. I want to see if you know anything about this. Kal-X refuses to tell me.” Clark said.  
“Alright then. I’m on my way.” Kara hung up the phone and turned to her friends. “Clark needs me in the Fortress. Can you cover for me with Miss. Grant?”  
“Of course we can Kara! We’re basically professionals at this.” Winn said self-assured.  
James laughed and said, “Go Kara if Clark is asking for help, either he’s finally learning he can’t do this on his own or it something really big.” Kara smiled and nodded, then using super speed she changed into her Supergirl outfit and flew out a window heading to her cousin’s secret base.  
After a quick flight at the speed of sound, Kara arrived at the ice castle that was the Fortress of Solitude. Jor-El was always a flashy guy so he sent his son to Earth with a whole castle to serve as Kal-El’s connection to Krypton. It also helped that Kal was a lot smaller than Kara was when they left Krypton. Kara lifted up the heavy key with ease and opened the front door. “Clark! I’m here! What is it you wanted to show me?” she yelled out to her cousin.  
Kal-El then emerged wearing a slightly damaged Superman suit. “Clark?” Kara was so concerned by her cousin’s suit she began speaking in Kryptonian, “Are you OK? What happened?”  
“I’m fine Kara, don’t worry. I just need to get the suit fixed up a bit.” Clark replied in Kryptonian with a smile. He understood that sometimes when the two of them were together and Kara was stressed or excited she would sometime slip into Kryptonian, it was something she did a lot more often when she was younger and confused the Danvers’s very much. “Here follow me.” He stated in English signaling for her to follow him further into the Fortress.  
“What exactly happened?” Kara asked curiously.  
“Well this alien robot landed and started scanning things in the city. So, naturally I went to check it out, but when it saw me it went berserk. It to a lot to take it down as you can tell.” He finished gesturing to his torn up suit.  
“Well let’s check out the robot.” Kara said confidently. She was proud of her little cousin for asking her help when he needed it. He was not raised on the family motto, "El mayarah", stronger together. Clark saw asking for help as a weakness rather than strength. Clark opened the door to his lab. The “alien robot” Clark was talking about was laying on the operating table. One look at it and Kara froze in fear. She would recognize that anywhere, the Earth was doomed.


	2. The City of Kandor

Clark and Kara arrived at the DEO not long after Clark was able to calm Kara down enough for her to explain what the robot was. She told him they had to go to the DEO because she didn’t want to have to explain what was going on too many times. So, she called Winn and James telling them to meet her there and the Super cousins flew back to National City. They were met with the curious gazes of the agents, J’onn J’onzz and Kara’s friends. “What’s going on Kara?” J’onn asked, “Superman sounded distressed over the phone.”  
Kara immediately walked over to her pod and started messing with it a bit. Then a hologram of Allura Zor-El appeared before them. “Everyone needs to pay attention, then we need to evacuate the Earth.” Kara said, surprising everyone with how defeated she sounded. No one got the chance to ask her anything, “Show me what happened to Kandor.” She commanded the hologram.  
“I am not authorized to talk about Kandor without the passcode.” The hologram answered.  
“That’s exactly what Kal-X told me. I don’t know of any passcode.” Clark responded.  
“Brainiac Prime.” Kara told the hologram, who nodded and suddenly the scene changed around them.

  
_The city of Kandor, capital of Krypton 40 years ago_

  
The streets of Kandor were alive with thousands of Kryptonian out to start their day. In one of the few parks left on the entire planet there was a group of people having a picnic. “Coming to Kandor was a great idea Zor-El.” A man, Jor-El, told his brother.  
“Yes, it feels so much better getting some fresh air. I’ve been cooped up inside for too long.” A pregnant woman, Lara Jor-El, laughed.  
“And Kara and Thara get the chance to hang out like normal kids for once.” A third adult, Ak-Var said. The adults looked over to the two children playing.  
“Kara! Catch!” Thara Ak-Var yelled throwing a ball in her friend’s general direction. Kara ran after it and dove to catch it getting her dress dirty. The two of them rarely had the chance to hang out like this as they were often helping their fathers and Kara’s uncle in the lab. Jor-El and Zor-El were prominent and well-respected scientists on Krypton and Ak-Var was their lab assistant. The two girls quickly became as close of friends as their fathers and Jor-El were. Now they were super excited for the birth of Kara’s cousin so they would have a new friend.  
Suddenly as the adults were chatting and the two children running about a darkness fell over the city. Looking up people saw what looked like a giant metal head in the sky, “Kara! Thara! Get over here!” Allura Zor-El commanded the two young girls, who immediately ran to her. Then robots began raining from the giant metal head. Ak-Var grabbed his daughter and held on tight as Zor-El and Allura did with Kara, Jor-El held tightly onto his pregnant wife.  
When the robots began shooting they snapped out of their stupor and began running towards Argo City to get out of Kandor. There were many screaming men, women and children around them, but Kara held on tightly to her parents trying to get away from the mayhem. She looked behind her to see Thara and Ak-Var following closely behind, in front of her were her aunt and uncle. The city was utter chaos, Kara watched as people died all around her. Then a force field began falling down around the city.  
“No! Run faster!” Kara heard Jor-El yell. She saw her aunt and uncle had finally made it to the outskirts of the city, they were safe. She felt her father pick her up and throw her under the quickly falling force field. Kara had the wind knocked out of her when she hit the ground. As she was catching her breath she realized that she no longer heard the screams of the people in Kandor. The force field had completely surrounded Kandor, Kara let out a sigh of relief. She had made it out. She was safe. Her relief did not last long when she saw Thara Ak-Var and Ak-Var banging on the force field, trying to get out.  
“Thara no!” Kara screamed running to the force field pounding on it with her fist attempting to release her friend. Zor-El grabbed his daughter pulling her off the barrier just in time for the entire city to be zapped seemingly out of existence by a laser beam from the metal head in the sky. The head sat there for a minute before zooming off leaving a giant gaping hole where the proud capital of Krypton once stood. The young Kara was not thinking about this, she was thinking of Thara Ak-Var, the only true friend she had. The friend that the young girl just watched die.  
“Kara, sweetheart.” Allura said as she pulled her daughter into a hug. Zor-El joined when he heard Kara beginning to sob in her mother’s arms.

  
_Back to the DEO base, Earth, present day_

  
The simulation ended and Allura’s hologram disappeared. The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. None of them could believe that a whole city was destroyed, just like that. Alex and Clark were the first to look at Kara, who now had tear streaming down her face. “Now you see what I mean. We can’t fight Brainiac, we have to leave, save as many people as possible.” She pleaded with everyone.  
“Kara I know it looks grim, but we can win this. We just need to try.” Superman put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder trying to comfort her.  
“Kal-El you don’t understand.” Kara was frustrated with her cousin’s optimism at the moment. “Brainiac wants nothing, but knowledge and he doesn’t like sharing. He’s coming to Earth because he realized that there were Kryptonians still alive on the planet. He’s coming to take us prisoner, or kill us and he’s going to destroy the Earth.”  
“Kara I know you’re scared, but we can’t just run from this. We need to fight.” Alex walked over to her sister.  
“I don’t understand. I showed you what he did on Krypton. How are you not terrified?” Kara was utterly confused by how hopeful everyone was in this hopeless situation.  
“We have the three most powerful beings in the universe right here.” Alex said.  
“Yeah J’onn, Superman and you have a chance of protecting all of us. We trust you.” James said with a smile on his face. The words of encouragement did not help Kara much. Despite the fact that the whole Earth had faith in the three of them, Kara saw what Brainiac could do. She remembered how powerless she felt as she watched Thara get vaporized with the largest city on Krypton. Kara was still very much afraid.


	3. Preparations and Old Friends

Kara stood unhappily, listening as everyone discussed how they would fight Brainiac. She knew this was a suicide mission, even with two super powered Kryptonians and a green Martian, they needed a whole league of superheroes to have even a small chance of winning. “If we’re going to have a chance, we need more help.” Kara interrupted the plan making.  
“Who else are we going to recruit?” Alex asked, “The only other super powered people are the alien we have imprisoned here and I’m not about trust any of them.”  
“I have a friend who has friends. I just need to be able to hit the right speed.” Kara replied.  
“Kara we have no idea how fast you need to go to travel across dimensions.” Winn reasoned, “And how do we know you’ll end up on the right Earth?”  
“The right Earth? What are you guys talking about?” J’onn asked. Everyone else in the room remembered that they never told Alex and J’onn about what happened while they were away. “While the two of you were on the run, we had a visitor from a parallel Earth. Where there are no known aliens living on Earth.” Lucy Lane explained to her coworkers.  
“They have many metahumans who are heroes. If I get to the right speed I can go to their Earth.” Kara replied. Alex looked like she was about to argue against Kara’s idea, but was stopped when J’onn put a hand on her shoulder. “Go Kara. We will work on trying to locate exactly where Brainiac is. It should not be too difficult with Superman’s help.” He told Kara.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” Kara to her sister before she left the building. Once outside, Supergirl took off. She quickly sped up, going faster than she’s ever gone before. She noticed she had entered what looked like a wormhole, she was flashes of events on her Earth, Barry’s Earth and what looked like an infinite number of other Earths. She headed towards a group of flashes that looked like they were from “Earth One” as Barry called his Earth.  
Then the scenery changed, the wormhole disappeared and she entered a city. Kara saw a large building quickly moving closer to her. In a panic she tried to stop, but it wasn’t working fast enough. So, she used her super speed to fly in the opposite direction. She skidded to a halt inches away from hitting the building, that’s when she notice the large crowd forming below here.  
Before Kara got a chance to apologize to the crowd, she felt something hit her in the shoulder. Grabbing it before it fell, she saw it was a, now bent, arrow that was colored green. Confused she looked down and found a man dressed in green wearing a hood and masked and holding a bow with another arrow notched. Next to the man was a woman wearing all black, a mask and a choker. “Wait I mean no harm.” Kara tried to explain.  
“Who are you and what are you doing in Star City?” the man asked. Star City? That’s not where Barry was from, Kara thought. “I need to get to Central City, I need the Flash.” Kara told the man.  
The two people looked at each other confused. “You know the Flash?” asked the woman.  
“Yes! Do you know him as well?” Kara asked, “Tell him that Supergirl needs him.” The man put his hand up to his hood and looked like he was talking to someone.  
“Well it looks like we’re taking a trip to Central City.” The man said, “I am the Green Arrow.” Kara landed and shook his hand.  
“And I’m the Black Canary.” The woman smiled kindly at Kara. Then the three headed towards Central City and the Scarlet Speedster.  
Later in Central City  
Kara stood outside the front door of STAR Labs in civilian clothing. Fortunately, she takes her glasses wherever she goes, so she just borrowed clothes from the Green Arrow’s friend Felicity. The two heroes of Star City came with her to see Barry, she learned their real names were Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance.  
Oliver opened the door and walked in followed by Laurel with Kara taking up the rear. She followed them through the halls to what looked like Barry’s equivalent to the command center at the DEO. In the room was Barry with six other people looking surprised at them. “Kara?” Barry asked, “How did you get here? Why did you come here?”  
“Barry who is this and how do you know her?” The dark skinned older man asked him.  
“My name is Kara. I’m from a different Earth.” Kara explained, “I came here because I need help, my Earth is in grave danger and the heroes on my Earth won’t be enough to stop it.”  
“Cisco call the rest of the Justice Society in. We need them here so Kara can fully explain what’s going on.” Barry told a man sitting behind a computer who weirdly reminded her of Winn. Barry, a man she did not recognize, Oliver, Laurel and Kara changed into their hero costumes to prepare for whoever was coming and Barry introduced Kara to his team. The person who changed into a costume she did not recognize was Wally West, Barry’s girlfriend’s brother. He had the same powers as Barry and went by the name of Kid Flash. Cisco was also a metahuman, with powers to be able to see other timelines. He kept looking at Kara weird, which confused her, but before she could ask four people in hero suits entered the room.  
White Canary, Sarah Lance, was Laurel’s older sister who was brought back from the dead. The Atom, Ray Palmer, wore a high-tech suit that could shrink him and put anything Maxwell Lord made to shame. Firestorm, Jefferson Jackson and Professor Martin Stein, were two people that could fuse together as one and have the power of a nuclear bomb. Hawkgirl, a girl with mystical warrior powers who has been continuously reborn because of a mineral from outer space, she has been reborn with her soul mate, but he was recently killed in battle.  
“Where’s everyone else?” Oliver asked.  
“There was an issue that Rip needed some help with. You’re stuck with only us Ollie.” Sarah replied.  
“Hopefully this will be enough.” Kara said and everyone turned and looked at her. “I might as well explain what’s going on to you.” She explained how she was from the planet Krypton and that her world was gone, but with her cousin she helps to protect her Earth. She told them how she got her powers from the radiation of Earth’s yellow sun. “They call me Supergirl.” She ended her introduction.  
“That’s what the S on your shirt mean.” Cisco exclaims, “I’ve been trying to figure that out since you came in.”  
“Actually it’s not an S.” Kara replied, if she had a dollar for every time someone got that wrong, “It’s my family’s coat of arms, the House of El. It means ‘El mayarah’, stronger together.”  
“Ok so what do you need our help with exactly?” Firestorm asked. Kara then proceeded to tell them about Brainiac and how she could not stop him with just herself her cousin and a green Martian. One by one each of the heroes agreed to help, much to Kara’s relief. She was worried they would not care that an Earth in a separate dimension was in peril. Apparently she underestimated how much of heroes they were.  
They all went to the basement of STAR Labs where Cisco opened a breach to Kara’s Earth. Kara went through first followed by the Flash, Kid Flash, the Green Arrow, Black Canary, White Canary, the Atom, Firestorm and Hawkgirl.

  
_Back on SuperEarth_

  
Luckily the breach let the heroes out near the DEO headquarters, so it did not take long to get there. Once arriving everyone was introduced to each other. Winn walked over to the group and said, “We’ve found Brainiac’s ship.” It was time for a reconnaissance mission to scout out the ship and Kara was not about to let anyone else risk their lives any more than necessary. Supergirl was going to have to be the one to go.


	4. Behind Enemy Lines

“I’ll do it.” Kara said. Clark and Alex looked like they were about to protest, but Kara continued, “I know more about Brainiac than all of you. I have more of an idea of what dangers I’ll be facing. It’s the smartest way to do this and you guys know it.”  
“I agree.” The Flash said, “As far as I can tell the only way you guys have to get into space right now is Kara’s pod, and only she can fly it for a mission like this. Ray could go to the ship himself, but none of us are from this Earth and Kara’s right. No one knows Brainiac better.”  
“Grey says that it’s the wisest course of action.” Firestorm added.  
“Alright then. Get yourself ready for the mission Supergirl. You’ll be leaving in a half hour.” J’onn said earning a surprised look from Clark and an angry look from Alex.  
“Director. Can I speak with you?” Alex asked and J’onn and she walked off. Kara moved over to her pod, making sure everything was in order. While doing this she listened in on what Alex and J’onn were saying. She was so focused she did not notice that Winn and James were trying to get her attention until James put his hand on her shoulder. “Sorry guys I was listening in to J’onn and Alex’s conversation.” Kara sighed, “Alex is worried for me.”  
“To be honest we are too.” James said looking a bit ashamed of himself.  
“Kara you told everyone how dangerous this guy is. It feels kinda like you’re purposely putting yourself in this situation to make sure no one else gets hurt.” Winn says.  
Kara sighs again, “You’re right Winn. That’s my job, any hero’s job, make sure no one else gets hurt. I promised my mother, father, aunt and uncle that I would protect Kal-El, and he protects the Earth. Therefore, it is also my duty to protect the Earth. I never break a promise.” Before Winn or James could say anything Lucy announced that the mission would be starting soon. Kara gave her two friends each a hug before climbing into the pod.  
It was a bit smaller in the pod than Kara could remember. Granted she was only thirteen when she last was in it. “Supergirl do you read?” Alex’s voice rang in her ear.  
“Loud and clear Agent Danvers.” Kara replied, “I promise I’ll come back Alex” The hangar door opened and Kara flew the pod up into the sky.  
“We’ve sent the location of Brainiac’s ship to your pod.” Alex told her.  
“I’ve received the location and I’m heading there now.” Kara replied.

  
_Back on Earth_

  
“This is absolutely incredible.” The Atom marveled at the alien technology the DEO had, “I didn’t think half of this stuff was possible.”  
“All this stuff probably exists on some distant planet in our dimension as well.” Professor Stein reasoned since Firestorm had separated. As most of the Earth One heroes were marveling at all the shiny new things that existed on SuperEarth, the Flash and the Green Arrow were working with the DEO on Kara’s mission. Flash saw the worry in Alex’s eyes and took off his mask. “You know she can do this, right?” Barry asked her.  
“I do.” Alex sighed, “I’m still worried though. What if something happens? We’re lucky that the ship is near a yellow star or else she wouldn’t even have her powers.”  
“Most of us don’t have powers.” Oliver interjected with his hood down and taking mask off, “The Atom just has a fancy suit. White Canary was trained by assassins. Black Canary has a choker that helps her emit a sonic scream. When separated, Firestorm can’t do anything. Even me, I’m just a guy with a bow, some arrows and lots of money. Yet we still manage to do this job. Last I check most DEO employees don’t have powers either. It’s not the super powers that make the hero or the mission successful. It’s the hero themselves and there is no one here who is more of a hero than Supergirl. I may have known her for only a short time, but I can tell she’s the best person for this job.”  
Ollie’s words made Alex feel a bit better, she was still worried it’s what sisters do, but she trusted Kara’s ability as a hero to be able to make the mission a success. Plus she promise and Kara never breaks a promise. Then Kara’s voice came over the loud speaker again, “I’ve arrived at the location. The ship is here, I’m going in.”

  
_On Brainiac’s ship_

  
Kara stepped out of the pod into the ominous metal ship, a ship she had not seen for decades and hoped she would not see again. Taking a deep breath she looked around and picked a direction to start walking in. Using her super hearing and x-ray vision she kept an eye out for any signs of life. She tried to make sure the camera in the crest on her chest had a decent view of what was going on at all times.  
Following the hall down as far as she could, Kara came to an open doorway. As she entered the lights tuned on and she froze is shock. There was a collection of millions of small bottles in the room placed like planets in space and in each bottle was a tiny city. Kara flew to where Krypton should be and found a bottle labeled “Kandor, Krypton”. Inside she saw an exact replica of Kandor, but it was not a replica, it was Kandor itself. Tear started forming in Kara’s eyes. They had been saved from Krypton’s fate, but were imprisoned by a knowledge hoarder.  
“Are you guys seeing this?” Kara asked the people still in the DEO.  
“Yeah.” Alex replied, “Is that…is that really Kandor?”  
“I think it is. I see people in there. Alex. Real live people. Other Kryptonians!” Kara could no longer hide her excitement. This meant she and Clark were no longer alone and best of all Thara Ak-Var, her best friend, was still alive. She wondered if the people in there knew of Krypton’s fate.  
Kara’s train of thought was interrupted by a mechanical voice saying, “Intruder! Surrender yourself or die!” She turned around to see an army of bots surrounding her.  
“Get out of there Kara!” Alex yelled in her ear. Kara panicked and used her heat vision on the bots, destroying a few, but those were quickly replaced. Then a green man in metal armor with three red dots in a triangle on his head walked in, Brainiac himself. “Kryptonian, I do not know how you have escaped my grasp for such a long time, but now I have you. The world you have been taking refuge in will have to be destroyed as well, they have Kryptonian knowledge. Too bad they planet itself is too primitive to have any new science knowledge, I do love that. Oh well, adding a new culture to my archives will suffice.”  
“No!” Kara exclaimed in anger, “I will not let you touch my home!”  
Brainiac laughed, “You’re home was destroyed long ago Kryptonian. You should have stayed there and died with it. I would have left Earth alone for a few more centuries.” In a fit of anger Kara launched herself at Brainiac, not hearing her sister trying to calm her down.  
Brainiac raised a gun, pointed at Kara and fired. All she could hear as the world went black was Alex screaming her name.


	5. The Lost City of Kandor

_DEO Headquarters_

  
Alex stared at the black screen in front of her in shock. The screen where she watched as a gun was pointed at her sister and then shot cutting off all communications between them. “Kara?” she asked quietly, “Kara are you there?” She was only met with the sound of static. She began saying her sisters name again, getting more desperate to hear Kara’s voice each time. Alex only stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Clark, his face stained with tears, and he pulled her into a hug. That’s when Alex lost what little composure she had left and burst into tears.  
Everyone in the room was shocked, especially the heroes from Earth One. If Supergirl had fallen to Brainiac, what hope did the rest of them have? The only person as powerful as her in the room was currently on his knees hugging Alex sobbing. Suddenly, Clark let go of Alex and stood up. “I’m going to Smallville I know where my pod is. I’m going after her.” He announced.  
“That’s pointless.” Sarah, White Canary, said. Everyone looked at her, confused. “She’s just as strong as you, right?” Clarks nods at her question. “Then you’ll end up in the same position as her. We need you here defending the planet.”  
“Sarah’s right.” Laurel interjected, “We have a better chance of winning if we stick together.”  
“But Kara…” Clark tried to argue.  
“Kara, for all we know, is gone. I’m sorry, I truly am, but we have bigger issues right now. Like the alien coming to destroy your Earth.” Sarah argued back.  
“I didn’t know her long, but Kara seemed to really care about this planet and the people on it.” Laurel said, “Don’t let her sacrifice be in vain. Trust me we’ve all lost someone close to us, it’s why we do what we do.”  
“Kara told me before she went to fight Non and Indigo that she let one planet die, she wasn’t going let Earth fall to the same fate as Krypton.” J’onn said, “The Canaries are right the best thing we can do right now is prepare for Brainiac’s arrival and win. The check his ship for Kara.” Alex was not very happy about the fact that they were right and neither was Clark, but they both knew it. All they could do was hope that Kara was OK and that they could save her.

  
_With Kara_

  
Kara slowly opened her eyes to see a very familiar sky and buildings. For a second she was worried that another Black Mercy had gotten her, but then she remembered, Brainiac. She shot up and looked around she was in Kandor. At first she was excited, but then she remembered the danger that the Earth was in. She trusted her friends to be able to keep the planet safe, but she wanted to be there to help, in case anything went wrong. She tried using her communication line to contact Alex, but it was not working, probably because of the barrier around Kandor.  
“Help!” Kara cried out, “Can anyone help me? I need to get out of here!”  
A crowd had started to form around her when she woke up. Someone said, “Don’t talk about leaving we’re not allowed to.” Kara was about to ask what he meant when some androids appeared and shocked her, “No one is allowed to leave here. Resistance is futile.” And then they disappeared.  
“Are you OK?” A voice asked her, “Wait…that crest. You’re from the House of El! You’re from Krypton.” The crowd grew larger and Kara was bombarded with questions of how Krypton was doing. Kara, sadly had to tell them that Krypton had been destroyed not long after they were taken.  
“You’re lying.” A distraught man said throwing a rock at Kara, “My wife and children are still on Krypton waiting for me to come home.” She felt bad for the man, but what truly worried her was that when the rock hit her head it hurt and she felt warm liquid dripping down her face. Looking up she saw a red son and realized that the radiation was slowly taking away her powers. She had to get out before she completely lost her powers, they would take too long to return.  
“Hey! Leave her alone! You’ve injured her.” A familiar voice called out, interrupting her thoughts. The crowd parted to show a man and a woman in what looked like superhero costumes. The man wore a blue suit with red gloves and boots, he wore a mask as well and had a symbol of a mythical bird on his chest. The woman next to him wore similar costume, but in red and yellow instead of blue and red. “Come with us we have a safe place for you to stay.” The girl said and Kara decided it was better to stay with them than the angry crowd.  
Once getting to the house they were staying at the girl threw her arms around Kara. “Kara! Thank Rao your OK!” The girl said and realization hit Kara.  
“Thara Ak-Var is that you?” She asked the masked girl.  
“Yes it is.” Thara said taking her mask off, “But my name is Thara Lor-Zod now.” This shocked Kara, Lor-Zod was the name of General Zod’s son who disappeared not long before Krypton was destroyed. She remembers that Zod was not the greatest man, he even managed to attack Earth before Kara arrived because he escaped from the Phantom Zone.  
“I am nothing like my father.” Lor-Zod told her, “I ran away the day that Kandor was taken and I ended up trapped here with everyone else.” Kara saw how much her friend trusted him so she decided to trust that he was not his father.  
“Wait both of you should be in your fifties by now, but you look around twenty-five.” Kara questioned.  
“Well I could say the same about you, Kara.” Thara joked, “Time doesn’t pass normally here it’s slow. We know it’s been over twenty-five years since we left Krypton, but we’ve only aged about fifteen.”  
“Oh.” Kara said, “When my cousin and I left Krypton my pod got knocked off course and I ended up in the Phantom Zone for over twenty years. Because of this Kal-El is actually older than me now.” She saw the saddened look on the couples’ faces. None of their live went at all as expected.  
“So you guys are superheroes too?” Kara asked. After they nodded she said, “On Earth they call me Supergirl. Do you guys have names you go by?”  
“Do you remember the story of Nightwing and Flamebird?” Lor asked. Kara nodded of course she did:  
Among the early Kryptonian Gods, Flamebird was charged by almighty Rao with constantly refreshing the world by burning down the new creations of her brother, Vohc-The-Builder. She did so, but there was no hostility between the two; Vohc was grateful that Flamebird constantly pushed him to reimagine his works. The two deities were in love for a time. However, to help his friend, Nightwing, Vohc made it possible for him to meet Flamebird. As such those two fell in love. Vohc's next creation was a monument representing all of his love for Flamebird. While Flamebird truly admired and appreciated the work, she fulfilled her duty to Rao by burning it down. This time Vohc actually begged for this work to be saved, but Flamebird ignored him. This destroyed much of Vohc and changed him into Vohc-The-Breaker. In each cycle, the Nightwing and the Flamebird are reborn, and must find each other. Also in each cycle, they are betrayed by a friend and killed. ( _A/N this story is from the Wikia page for Nightwing and Flamebird_ )  
“Well that’s us. I’m Flamebird and Lor is Nightwing.” Thara said. The three continued to catch up for a while, but Kara knew she did not have much time.  
“It has been fun, but the Earth is in trouble and I need to get back and help.” Kara said, “Also it would mean a lot to have the two of you help as well. We’re going to stop Brainiac once and for all.  
“I have an idea, but it’s really risky.” Thara said.  
“Risk is in our job description Thara.” Kara replied and Thara proceeded to lay out her plan to them.


	6. Return of Supergirl

“That’s really risky Thara.” Lor-Zod told his wife.  
“If we don’t take this risk, we’ll be stuck here forever and more people will die to Brainiac.” Kara reasoned, “The risk is worth it.”  
The three heroes returned to the center of the city, where Kara first appeared in Kandor. The started making a mess, yelling throwing things, trying to get the attention of Brainiac’s androids. They came and they attacked, but were met with resistance and they became greatly damaged. Kara picked up one of the bots followed by Thara and then Lor. The system took out the damaged androids and they were taken out of Kandor with the androids.  
Kara looked around and started to sneak towards the escape pods for Thara and Lor and her own pod for herself. Luckily for them, Brainiac kept all vehicles he has acquired in the same area. They found it fairly quickly without much happening, but then Lor got into an escape pod and an alarm blared. Thara and Kara got into their pods and they all left the ship.  
Dodging laser blasts in an escape pod was not as easy as Hollywood would have Kara think. Yet, despite the fact that none of them really were skilled pilots they managed to get away. In fact, Kara believed that Brainiac let them escape to help him get to Earth.  
The journey was not as long as Kara’s trip to Brainiac took, which worried her. He was speedily approaching Earth. Hopefully the DEO came up with a plan in her absence. The three pods came into view of the Earth and Kara guided her friends to the Earth’s surface near the DEO headquarters.

  
_DEO Headquarters_

  
Alex was still very distraught. Well, everyone was, but Kara’s disappearance was affecting her the most. She was trying her hardest to focus on making a plan, but ended up spending most of the planning session sitting in silence in the back with other occasionally giving her worried glances.  
“We really need to find some sort of biological weakness Brainiac has. There is no way he has none.” J’onn said. “Alex do you think you can find something out.”  
“Not really.” Alex replied, “We know nothing about this Brainiac. The only one to know anything was Kara and we cannot access the hologram without her.” The mood in the room shifted from somewhat confident to almost completely hopeless.  
“What if when Brainiac arrives J’onn and Superman distract him Flash or I go in and try to get the information you need. We’re the two fastest here, besides Superman.” Kid Flash suggested.  
“I don’t want you risking your lives like that for a world that isn’t yours.” Superman rejected Kid Flash’s offer.  
“Isn’t that what you J’onn and Kara do?” asked Atom, “Technically none of you were born on Earth, yet you still risk your lives for it.”  
“What Atom is trying to say,” Hawkgirl interrupted, “is that risking our lives for everyone is what we do. It’s every hero’s job. We want to help, you just need to let us.” Clark still looked unhappy about these people who had nothing to do with this Earth risking their lives. He just possibly lost the only blood family he had left, he didn’t want anyone else to lose a family member. Atom and Hawgirl were right though, as much as he wanted to disagree with them he had to let one of the speedsters go on what looked like it could be a suicide mission. “OK, you’re right.” Superman said dejectedly.  
“I’ll be the one to go in.” the Flash said before Kid Flash could get a single word in. Clark could see that Barry knew what he was getting into and just wanted to protect his friend. So, he nodded at the Scarlet Speedster in agreement. Barry was protecting his friends, something Clark wished he was better at.  
“I guess I’ll try my best and use the stuff Flash gets me to come up with a weakness.” Alex said, still clearly upset, but trying to be better.  
Then a loud crash was heard from outside. “We have three unidentified objects that just landed outside the base directors.” An agent told J’onn and Lucy. Every hero made sure they were suited up and agents got their guns out. Everyone exited the building to meet what was probably the beginning of Brainiac’s army.

  
_With Kara_

  
Their pods landed right outside the DEO. Maybe I’m a better pilot than I thought Kara thought, impressed with her accuracy. She got out of her pod to an army of heroes and guns pointed at her. “Well this is the ‘welcome home’ party I get?” she asked jokingly. Alex marched up to her and Kara saw the angry look in her sister’s eyes. She punched Kara, not caring that she could have broken a hand and then wrapped her arms around her in the tightest hug she could manage. After getting over his initial shock, Clark joined Alex, being able to hug even tighter than her. He never expected to see his cousin again and yet here she was. “What happened to you?” Both asked Kara at the same time.  
Before Kara had the chance to answer Thara interrupted, “Kal-El? Is that you? I’ve been waiting years to finally meet you.” This earned confused looks from everyone, who just noticed the presence of Thara and Lor.  
“Guys this is Thara Lor-Zod and Lor-Zod.” Kara explained, “Thara was my best friend in Krypton, she was on Kandor when Brainiac took it. Lor-Zod is her husband who ran away from his father. They’ve been superheroes trying to get everyone out of Brainiac’s control in Kandor for years now.”  
“So, you’ve been in Kandor and that’s why we couldn’t get in contact with you.” Winn said.  
Lor nodded, “We’ve brought her back for you and we want to help in you fight. We have the same powers as Kara and Kal-El, but not because of the sun. It’s because of our statuses as Nightwing and Flamebird.” He proceeded to explain the story about them to give the humans context for what was going on.  
“I’m assuming you guy have come up with a plan?” Kara said, but it was more of a question.  
“Of course we do, but it’ll be easier with the data you collected with that camera in your suit.” J’onn said, “Even though we weren’t getting a feed most of the time, if Alex and Winn work together they should be able to get something out of it.”  
“We may not have enough time to figure that out.” Thara said, “Brainiac should be here any minute.”  
“Tell us your plan and we’ll fight once he arrives until a weakness can be found.” Lor suggested. They all went back into the DEO to go over the plan once again and await the coming battle.


	7. Brainiac Arrives

The heroes were sitting around wait for Brainiac to arrive. They had no clue when he would arrive or where he would strike, all they knew is that when he got there they would be protecting the people while Supergirl, Superman and Martian Manhunter went directly after Brainiac. Heroes from both Earths were nervous, they had faced many villains and stopped many plots, but this was a whole new level. From what Supergirl, Nightwing and Flamebird knew about him, Brainiac seemed as invincible as their Kryptonian friends, if not more so.  
“Sirs, ma’ms.” A DEO agent came forward, “An alien craft just appeared over National City. We think it is Brainiac.”  
Supergirl turned to everyone in the room. “Time to move out.” She commanded taking charge of the situation, “Remember stick to the plan, and keep civilian casualties as minimal as you can. Alex, keep working on that weakness and tell us as soon as you find it.”  
“Let’s do this!” Jackson yelled out as he merged with Professor Stein. With that they all headed towards National City.  
Once there the Earth One heroes, with the addition of Nightwing and Flamebird, set to work protecting the people from Brainiac’s androids. Supergirl watched for a few seconds as she witnessed how amazingly they all worked together. She heard from Barry that they formed a team together, they called themselves the Justice Society. Maybe she should start a justice league of some sort on her Earth.  
Her train of thought was interrupted as J’onn put a hand on her shoulder telling her it was time to go. The three of them flew away from the war zone that was National City and moved up towards the large metal head in the sky. You’re going to pay for all the worlds you’ve destroyed Brainiac, Kara thought to herself, I’ll make sure of it.

  
_DEO Headquarters_

  
Alex was hard at work in her lab. I’ve got to find this weakness, she thought, the whole world is counting on me right now. Her thoughts were interrupted by someone behind her clearing their throat. Turning around Alex saw Lucy Lane in her doorway. “Director Lane! I didn’t expect to see you here.” Alex said genuinely surprised.  
“I know I should be out there fighting with everyone else, but I have an agent that needs some help.” Lucy said smiling, “I’m here as a friend Alex, you can’t do this alone. Remember what Kara always says.”  
“El Mayarah.”  
“Stronger together.” Lucy translated nodding, “It’s the only bit of Kryptonian that I know. I seems like such a beautiful language.”  
“It is. Kara tried to teach me when we were younger, but I was struggling getting the pronunciations right.” Alex laughed at the memory, “It frustrated me to no end.”  
“I’m sure it did. Why doesn’t Kara speak in it more, it is her native language.” Lucy asks.  
“The only person alive who speaks Kryptonian is Superman.” Alex answers, “I often hear her speaking to him in Kryptonian when she thinks no one else is listening. Also, there was on time when I was sixteen, I had the flu. Kara didn’t know how to help me feel better, she felt helpless, and so she sang a Kryptonian lullaby. She’s a much better singer that she will admit.”  
“When this is all over we should all have a karaoke night.” Lucy said with Alex nodding in reply. “Now I’ll get James and Winn in here and we can get started on finding that weakness, together.”

  
_CatCo Worldwide Media_

  
Cat Grant looked outside of her office window. The carnage was visible even from stories up in a skyscraper. She saw robots attacking innocent civilians, seemingly for no reason, and heroes she never saw before fighting. The only one she was able to recognize was the Flash. Through it all she saw no signs of Supergirl or her cousin. Cat began to worry about her friend, was she abandoning the city?  
That’s when she heard a loud crash. The robots had made their way into the building and were now coming after her. Cat closed her eyes and prepared for the worst when she heard the sound of laser vision cutting through metal. When she opened her eyes it was not Supergirl in from of her, but a girl of around the same age with brown hair and a red outfit with a symbol of a bird on it. “Who are you? Where is Supergirl?” Cat asked the mystery hero.  
“Well it seems that reporters are the same no matter what planet you’re on.” The girl joked, “You can call me Flamebird, and I’m a friend of Supergirl. She’s with her cousin and the Green Martian going after the source of these androids. Don’t worry she enlisted all of these heroes you see to protect the city while she stops the alien responsible. I don’t know much about this planet, but Supergirl cares for it very deeply. She will never abandon any of you.”

  
_Brainiac’s ship_

  
Two Kryptonians and a Green Martian arrived at the outside of the ship. Supergirl took her cousin and friend to the spot where she had entered the ship a week before, when she went on her reconnaissance mission. “Now we just need to find where Brainiac is hiding in here.” Superman said.  
“Lucky for us, I know exactly where to find him.” Supergirl replied taking off in a direction. Superman and Martian Manhunter followed her trusting she knew her was around the massive ship. She took them to the center of the ship, the room where Brainiac held the millions of cities he stole. Clark and J’onn were overwhelmed by the sheer number of worlds he captured.  
“Brainiac wants all the knowledge in the universe and he doesn’t want anyone else to have access to it. So, he takes the knowledge he needs from his target world and then destroys that world. He didn’t destroy Krypton only because he knew the planet was nearing its end without his help.” Kara told the two of them.  
“That’s impossible.” J’onn argued, “You cannot collect all of the knowledge in the universe. Civilizations are always changing, growing and learning new things. New things are always being learned. How can Brainiac expect to achieve his goal?”  
A booming voice answered J’onn, “That is why I always take a city from the worlds I invade. I continue taking knowledge from them as they grow and learn in this very room.” Brainiac came out from the darkness confronting the three heroes.  
“This can’t go on any longer.” Superman growled, “We will free those you have held prisoner and protect our world.”  
Brainiac laughed, “I told your cousin this, but your world is gone Kryptonian and yours too Martian. The three of you will soon join your people one way or another.” Brainiac lashed out and shot and Superman hitting him in the arm. Clark’s shocked look told the other two that the shot actually hurt him. “While the female was in Kandor I was able to take her knowledge from her. How ironic that the only thing that can hurt you is radioactive remnants of your dead planet.” He evil laughed as Supergirl panicked. Was their plan going to work?


	8. Brainiac Falls, but at What Cost

Martian Manhunter attempted to use a mental attack at Brainiac, but his mental power overcame J’onn and sent him flying into a wall behind the two Kryptonians. Superman went to check on him while Supergirl tried using her laser vision on Brainiac. J’onn was fine and able to get up and help, but not in time to save Kara from getting shot with Kryptonite in the leg. She collapsed in pain, unable to stand, so she flew up and hovered over the ground.  
The fight continued and the heroes were not doing well against their adversary. Any hit they managed to get on Brainiac seemed to do nothing to slow him down. Superman and Supergirl were both injured from the Kryptonite and Brainiac readied his finishing shot on Supergirl. The shot never reached its target because J’onn jumped in front of Kara, saving her. The blast knocked the last of the Green Martians out and rendered him useless for the rest of the fight. Now only a badly injured Superman and equally injured Supergirl stood in between Brainiac and his goal.  
Supergirl was breathing heavily, she was exhausted. Come on Alex, she thought, find that weakness fast I don’t know how much longer we’ll last.

  
_National City_

  
Thara looked around her, there was carnage everywhere. The heroes around her were trying their best to save everyone, but the androids still got to so many. It was like the world was in slow motion, children were crying adults were screaming. The heroes from Earth One were growing tired, she could see it in their slower motions.  
The Flash and Kid Flash looked like they were going to pass out soon. Green Arrow and White Canary were covered in their own blood. Black Canary looked like she was losing her voice from screaming son much. The Atom’s suit was running low on power. Hawgirl’s wings were injured so she was grounded, still swinging her mace, but a bit slower. Firestorm look like they needed to separate and rest.  
Despite all this they were continuing to fight, past their limits. It was not enough, the heroes were losing this fight. She looked over at her husband who was trying not only to help the people of National City, but also the other heroes that were protecting it.  
Thara watched as a force field lowered around National City, once again trapping her in Brainiac’s grasp. Fear washed over her as she realized the fight was almost over.  
Come on Kara Zor-El, you can do this. You’re stronger than Brainiac. You’re the strongest person I know.

  
_DEO Headquarters_

  
“We have to work faster.” Winn told the other three in the room, “I don’t have a feed from in the ship, but the people in the city are not doing well. There is a force field trapping all of National City in a bubble.”  
Alex yelled out in frustration, “He has no weakness. Nothing is working!” Lucy, James and Winn joined her in desperation. They have been working so hard, but found absolutely nothing. Tears started to form in their eyes, they have failed in their one mission. That’s when an idea comes to Lucy.  
“Wait no one has seen Brainiac and lived before Kara, right?” Lucy asked earning a nod from Alex. “Well has he even left his ship ever?”  
“You’re right!” Alex said, “In theory, Brainiac should have no immune system. They just need to get him out of his ship, hopefully.”  
“There is a chance this won’t work.” James reminded them.  
“We’re going to die if we don’t try.” Alex reminded James as she got out her Bluetooth device to call Kara.

  
_Brainiac’s ship_

  
Supergirl and Superman were pushing themselves past their limits. They were bruised, bleeding and broken. The Kryptonite was taking a toll on them, they were not going to last much longer. Another world was going to fall. Kara, with rage in her heart and tears in her eyes went to give Brainiac a Kryptonian punch, but was stopped by a shot to the shoulder. She fell to the ground and felt as blood flowed out of the wound. “Kara! Kara!” she heard Alex’s voice in her ear.  
Putting a hand on the Bluetooth device in her ear Kara answered weakly, “What’s up Alex?”  
“We found his weakness. He has no immune system you just need to get him out of his ship!” Alex’s news gave Kara a new burst of strength. She looked at Superman who had overheard what Alex said and the two began to taunt Brainiac.  
“Is that all you’ve got?”  
“I’ve fought worms stronger than you!”  
“Why don’t you leave taking over worlds to real villains!”  
With every insult they saw Brainiac grow angrier. The Kryptonians fled the ship, taking J’onn J’onzz with them, and looked behind them to see a furious Brainiac blindly following them to a marsh near the city. “You dare insult me?” Brainiac demanded once they stopped, “I will crush you like bugs.” Then he started to cough, confused he looked at his enemies.  
“You spend so much time in your ship learning about all these worlds.” Superman said.  
“You’ve never set foot on one. Life comes in all shapes and sizes and some of the smallest are not very friendly.” Kara continued.  
“We have immunity to many of these bacteria and viruses because we’ve lived here we’ve encountered them, and others like them.”  
“But you, you stay in your protective bubble. Now that you’ve left, we don’t need to stop you. The smallest inhabitants of this planet will do the job for us.”  
Brainiac coughed and sneezed and he was afraid. He was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Angrily he looked at the two beaten up Kryptonians, he came so close. Off in the distance his ship, sensing his coming death, shut down. The androids fell and so did the force field. The people of National City cheered their heroes had once again saved the day.  
Brainiac could feel all of the knowledge he accumulated leaving him. He was furious, how dare these two weaklings defeat the all-knowing Brainiac. In once last attempt of getting some sort of victory he aimed at Superman and fired his Kryptonite weapon.  
Kara saw the danger heading towards her cousin, she would not let him die. She promised her parents and his that she would protect him. She ran as fast as she could and pushed Clark out of the way of the blast. She fell to the ground with an intense pain radiating from her chest. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was her cousin’s worried face mouthing her name over and over, trying to keep her awake.  
Clark saw as Kara went down. He used his laser vision to quickly finish off Brainiac and ran over to her. He yelled out her name, trying to keep her conscious, but it did not work. Clark held his cousin’s broken body in his arms screaming in agony.  
Thara and Lor-Zod arrived to check on them when they did not respond to the DEO’s calls. Thara quickly ordered the med bay to be readied for all three of them when she came across the scene in front of her. Lor took J’onn back to the DEO while Thara convinced Clark to pull himself together and help fly Kara back.  
Back at the DEO Superman was completely better after a few hours on the solar bed. J’onn healed quickly once he was stitched up. Now everyone was bandaged up waiting for news on Kara. She had to be brought into surgery. After what seemed like a lifetime, the surgeon came out to a huge crowd of metahumans, aliens and agents, all waiting for news on Supergirl. The surgeon sighed and began to talk about the surgery looking at all the hopeful faces in front of her, she told them that Supergirl was…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for that cliffhanger there (not really :P). I’m now halfway through the story! There is more to come.


	9. Funeral For A Friend

Supergirl was dead.

Brainiac succeeded in killing her. The DEO headquarters was so silent that a pin dropping on the ground could be heard. The Girl of Steel had fallen, it was unbelievable for so many people. It took a long time for people to process what the surgeon had told them. So many of them thought this was an impossibility. How could a Kryptonian die? She seemed completely indestructible as she walked through flames and stopped bullets with the palm of her hand. She was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, she could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Now the last daughter of Krypton lay pale and still on an operating table in a secret military base, no signs of life coming from her.

Then a quiet “No” was uttered. Everyone turned to see Superman, the Man of Steel, a mess. Everything was crashing down around him, he felt so powerless. His cousin who he felt as if he had just found, left him. She pushed him out of the way, it should be him that was dead. Kara had a heart of gold, she only wanted to help people ever since she was young. He heard stories from the hologram of his father what she did on Krypton. She would risk breaking an arm to save a young child’s beloved pet. Coming to Earth and getting these powers was the perfect situation for Kara. She could do more to help than ever before. Clark fell to the ground, sobbing in the few years he knew his cousin he came to love her as she had already loved him. Now, she was gone, his cousin, his biggest fan, his only real connection to Krypton. He felt as though he lost everything with the loss of Kara.

Alex Danvers was trying to hold herself together. Everyone was watching as the strongest man in the universe was reduced to a sobbing heap on the ground. She wanted to join him, but with the symbol of hope tarnished by the death of her sister…with that thought she could no longer hold back. She ran to Clark and held him tightly joining him in grieving for their family. Alex took Kara in as a sister when she had lost everything. They were not related by blood like Clark was, but Alex could not have wished for a better sister. She was always worried every time Kara went out, but was comforted when she was able to hug her sister when she returned. Never again would they have a sisters’ night where they would binge watch an entire show and eat pizza and pot stickers. Never again would Alex have to yell at Kara for eating all the food without saving any for her. Never again would Alex be able to feel a deep sense of pride from the bottom of her heart every time she saw the coat of arms of the house of El. Even now, seeing the symbol on Clark’s chest filled her with uncontrollable sadness.

J’onn J’onzz felt the death of his wife and daughters resurfacing in his mind. Ever since recruiting Alex he saw her as a daughter, Kara was added after she decided to help out. For the first time since he lost his family, he felt tears running down his face. Why must the universe be so against him? He watched as his people died. He saw his two daughter be slaughtered. Now, now he witnessed the death of another daughter. To make it worse, if he had not been unconscious at the time he could have done something to save her. He felt crushing guilt as he realized he lost another daughter because of his inability to protect those he loves. He watched as Alex held onto Clark, both sobbing the loss of their family member. J’onn’s heart broke he did not want Alex to be in this much pain. His heart ached for loss. The loss of his daughters, his people, Kara, and Alex’s happiness. J’onn knew how much Kara and Alex loved each other, he knew it would be a long healing process for Alex. He knew he had to be there for her, every step of the way.

Lucy Lane was still in shock. She saw her brother-in-law on the ground. She saw her co-director crying for the first time. She saw her toughest agent collapse in anguish. Her mind kept flashing back to the times she’s hated Supergirl under the influence of her father. The time she tried to kill the girl with Red Tornado, the time she denounced her over the red kryptonite episode. Lucy had seen much death in her time in the army, but nothing touched her as much as Kara’s. She did not know how to react.

James Olsen and Winn Schott Jr just lost their best friend. They both secretly had crushes on Kara at some point in time, but how could they not? Kara was such a good person. Even when she went “evil” with the red kryptonite, she came out of it in tears. She was so devastated with what she had done that she cried, to all of them. The next thing she did was apologize, to them, to Cat Grant, to all of National City. Cat Grant. Someone had to tell her, someone had to tell all of National City, the entire world that their hero was dead. They thought of all the little girls that looked up to Kara sobbing in their parents’ arms or alone in their rooms, when they heard the news. James and Winn left the DEO, someone had to get the news out. Supergirl was dead, she needed to be honored.

The Earth One heroes, Nightwing and Flamebird mourned the loss of their fellow hero. The heroes from Earth One saw their fair share of death. The Black Canary knew exactly how Alex felt. She had lost her own sister once, now she was back, but through a magic means that did not exist on this Earth and no longer existed on theirs. It was the way of life for heroes, they knew all their lives were at risk every day, but Kara seemed indestructible, with all her powers she was the last of them they expected to die. Nightwing and Flamebird were distraught. Thara just found her childhood friend again and now she, once again, lost her. Lor-Zod hated seeing his wife so upset. Thara walked over to Alex and put a hand on her shoulder saying, “I have not known you long, but I know Kara always wanted a sister. I’m glad you were able to do that for her.” Thara comment brought on a new wave of tears for Alex and everyone else in the room.

_CatCo Worldwide Media_

            Cat Grant sat in her office preparing stories for what happened in National City. She was waiting for James to arrive to start a meeting when he and the tech guy that always hung out with Kara. The two men had tears in their eyes as they told everyone in the room what would become the biggest story of the year.

Supergirl was dead. She died fighting Brainiac, saving everyone. The story became the front page of the paper the next day. Everyone knew the sacrifice that the hero made for them. The president named the day officially Supergirl Day and made it a national holiday. Every year Supergirl’s sacrifice would be remembered and honored.

Cat gave the two men two weeks off to mourn. She knew that Kara was Supergirl, she had been waiting for her ex-assistant to feel comfortable enough to tell her herself. Cat knew they were Kara’s closest friends, they needed time to grieve.

_The Funeral_

            All of National City grieved for their hero. Most of the heroes that had helped out had seemingly disappeared to the city, but a select few knew they had to return to their Earth. The Earth One heroes had already spent too much time away from their home. Barry left a gift for the DEO, an interdimensional communication device so that they could ask for help from the Earth One heroes easily of they needed to.

            There was a funeral held, three days after Supergirl’s death was announced. A large statue was put up in Kara’s favorite park in memorial of the fallen hero. Under the memorial was a tomb where Supergirl’s body was buried. Alex and Clark were upset with this decision, knowing that Kara would want a Kryptonian burial. They made an agreement with the president to leave her there for a few days and then, privately, give her a Kryptonian burial.

            The funeral was incredible. The entire city got together to remember their beloved hero, even Maxwell Lord showed up for a bit. Cat Grant, Superman and Lena Luthor all gave speeches in honor of Supergirl. Cat’s brought tears to many eyes as she talked about how good of a friend and person Supergirl was. Superman could barely finish his. He was sobbing half way through. He tried his hardest to stay strong for the sake of the people, but he could not hide his sadness from his cousin’s death.

            Lena Luthor was the most surprising attendant to Supergirl’s funeral. After Superman put her brother, Lex, in prison she had been trying to save his company, LexCorps. Maybe she was using this to completely separate herself from her brother, but regardless she gave a great heartfelt speech about Supergirl and her contributions to the safety of National City. The funeral ended with cannons being fired as a group of trumpet players played taps, giving Supergirl a hero’s send off.

            Every one of Kara’s friends dealt with their grief differently. Alex and J’onn left to stay with Eliza Danvers in Midvale. James, Winn and Lucy went around doing Kara’s favorite things to remember her by. Cat Grant worked hard keeping the memory of Supergirl and her ideals alive. Thara and Lor-Zod became the new protectors of National City, with Clark’s help they took the names Christopher and Linda Kent, Clark’s cousins that he never knew about until recently. Clark spent most of his days in the Fortress of Solitude trying to find a way to bring the cities that Brainiac stole back to their normal size and give the people a place to stay. A lot of the time Thara and Lor would join him, but they were making little headway on their mission. Everyone was grieving in their own ways trying to get life back to normal, or as normal as it could be.

_A dark room in an unknown location_

            A woman walked into the darkened room. Her long brown hair shone in the spotlight that was on the unconscious person in front of her. She smiled, “Supergirl is gone and I didn’t need to do anything. It’s time for me to shine.” She laughs as the woman in front of her regains consciousness and opens her eyes.


	10. Echoes

            It has been a month since Supergirl died. The people of National City were still shaken up over the death of their hero. What do you do when a symbol of hope for the people is destroyed? Everyone thought it was impossible to kill the supercousins, but with one dead and the other still grieving the people did not know who to turn to. That’s why Thara and Lor-Zod were out there fighting crime in National City and Metropolis. They wanted to give Clark time to get himself back together, so they took over his job as well as Kara’s. On their off time, they would go to the Fortress of Solitude to help Clark figure out how to save Kandor. In their off time, they lived in Kara’s old apartment, which was left to Alex. The DEO forged documents for them so they could live among humans as Christopher and Linda Kent.

            Alex and J’onn came back from Midvale after two weeks of vacation. Both we clearly still dealing with what had happened, but they needed to get back to work. Lucy hoped that working again would help the two come to terms with the loss of Kara. Alex often spent her free time in the AI room talking with the hologram of Allura Zor-El. Lucy overheard the AI telling Alex many stories of what Kara did when she was still on Krypton. Through these stories one thing became absolutely clear, Kara was never not going to be some sort of hero. She always wanted to help people. This made both Lucy and Alex feel a bit better about her fate at the hands of Brainiac, it’s something that Kara was alright with.

            Kara Danvers, officially, was missing after in the attack on National City. She was out getting lunch before returning to work and she was caught in the battle that had engulfed the city. Three hundred innocents were killed that day, Kara Danvers would be 301, but no one could find her body. No one except those who knew she was Supergirl, that is. The police had told Eliza and Alex that they were going to do everything they could to find Kara, but the two already knew she was dead. The NCPD had put their best detective on Kara’s case, Maggie Sawyer. Neither Danvers payed attention to what was going on, Kara was dead, they had to pretend just to keep her secret identity, secret. It’s what Kara would have wanted.

            Despite all this, things were slowly, really slowly, going back to normal. Nightwing and Flamebird were doing an incredible job keeping people safe. Flamebird was on patrol through National City while Nightwing was in Metropolis when she got a call about a fire. She went to the fire, but someone else beat her to it. When she arrived the fire was out and everyone was safe. “What happened?” she asked one of the fire fighters, “I was called in to help. Did you guys put out the fire already?”

            “No.” the fire fighter replied, “I don’t know who she was, but she certainly looked a lot like Supergirl.”

            “Supergirl? But she’s dead I saw her die myself.” Thara was now confused and angry, someone was impersonating her best friend. The fire fighter just shrugged and went back to helping his co-workers clean up. Thara immediately contacted her husband and told him to meet her back at the DEO.

            Once Thara got back to the DEO, she called everyone to a meeting and Lor arrived a minute later. Even Clark was there, although it was not where he wanted to be. “I got called in to help with a fire in the city,” Thara explained to everyone, “but when I got there the fire was out and everyone was safe. I asked a fireman what happened and he told me that Supergirl saved the day.” This caused a commotion of confusion amongst everyone there.

            “Does this mean there’s an imposter pretending to be Kara?” J’onn asked then added with hope in his voice, “Or is she back?”

            “I doubt Kara is back.” Lor said, “If she were she would immediately contact the people she loved.”

            “We still need to check. Just in case.” Clark said. He and Alex wanted Kara to be alive again more than anyone else, they needed to go and make sure that the new Supergirl was not Kara. Lucy told Clark and Alex to go check on that while everyone else looks into the possibility of there being an imposter Supergirl.

            After the meeting ends Clark and Alex have a brief conversation and Clark flies off into the city alone. J’onn sees this and immediately is concerned. “Alex why didn’t you go with Superman to check on Kara?” he asks her.

            “I…I can’t do it.” Alex bursts into tears again. “I can’t see my little sister like that. She was like a ray of sunshine, so full of life, and now…now she’s just not.” J’onn pulls Alex into a hug, he could not bear to see her still so upset. “I miss her so much. Why did she have to go and be a hero? Why did she have to take that shot for Clark? She left me alone and I don’t think anything can ever be the same without her.”

            “You’re right Alex.” J’onn said getting Alex’s full attention. “Nothing will ever be the same again without Kara. She was a one of a kind person, but so are all of us. It never truly gets better when you lose someone you love. I still miss my wife and daughters just as much as the day they died and I’m sure Kara felt the same about her planet. You will learn to live without Kara. I know you don’t want to, but unless Clark finds something, you have too. You have to learn to live with missing her. You can do it Alex, I know you, and you’re too stubborn to let this tragedy rule your life.” The two of them embraced again before joining the rest of the DEO in finding out who, or what, this new Supergirl was.

_CatCo Worldwide Media_

            The building was surrounded by people asking questions. The fire, a cat stuck in a tree, an armed robbery a superhero had been hard at work today and whoever it was looked a lot like Supergirl. Everyone was wondering if the Girl of Steel somehow had returned, and they did not know where to go, so they went to CatCo.

            This frustrated Cat Grant greatly. How could all these people not realize that this had to be an imposter? The commotion was clearly upsetting James and Winn as well, and Cat could not blame them. Their best friend’s identity was being stolen by whoever or whatever was flying around National City. She tried to contact Kara’s sister, Alex, but the woman just said that they were looking into it.

            So, Cat did the only thing she could do, report the news. The title of the article was “Supergirl’s Miraculous Return or Imposter Stealing Her Identity”. Cat was trying to remind people that their hero was dead and this person, whoever they were, was trying to take credit for all the good Supergirl had done in the world. She did not was Supergirl’s sacrifice belittled by someone thinking they can be the same hero that Kara was.

_Supergirl’s Grave_

            Clark arrived at the burial site for his cousin. They were going to give her the Kryptonian burial she wanted soon, but he was glad they did not yet. If Kara was somehow still alive he did not want her waking up in a casket in the middle of space. He walked into the entrance under the memorial statue of her. There was a door built in that only Superman could open, just in case he wanted to be closer to his cousin. To the public, he was Supergirl’s only known family. He had told Alex and Kara’s friends that if they ever needed to go down there he would open the door for them.

            Walking through the dark tomb saddened him. A hero as great as Kara had been confined to such a dark and dreary resting place. She deserved better, much better than the humans could give her. He saw the casket and as he opened the lid he prayed to Rao and every god on Earth that she would be missing from there. Rao and the Earth gods apparently did not like him that much because there was Kara’s body in her Supergirl suit looking pale. Clark took a deep breath trying to stop himself from crying again. It did not work and tears flowed once again, as if he lost his cousin for a second time.

            Then Clark suddenly stopped. He heard something that gave him hope. Hope for everyone on Earth.


	11. Clark Learns Something New

            There were so many questions Lucy Lane wanted answered. Superman had not been seen since he went to check if the new Supergirl was really Kara three weeks ago. Not even Thara and Lor-Zod could find him. They even tried looking in the Fortress of Solitude, but it was locked and they could not check in there. They assumed that he found that the new Supergirl was not Kara and needed to be alone. Clark really had been hoping that his cousin was still alive.

Also, who was this new Supergirl? Lucy could tell from the beginning that it was not Kara, something was off about the way she acted, and it was not her friend. After reviewing what little footage existed of “Supergirl”, J’onn and Alex noticed that her powers seemed to work differently as well. She was not using Supergirl’s abilities, but was somehow trying to recreate them. She also was able to easily disappear without a trace after saving the day, making it impossible to get clear footage of her. J’onn mentioned the possibility of her using Psychokinesis and her having the ability to turn invisible and/or shapeshift. It seemed absurd to Lucy, but she trusted that J’onn new what he was talking about when it came to powers.

Alex had looked into the possibility that Maxwell Lord had made another Bizzaro. Lord claimed to have nothing to do with the imposter Supergirl. After a short investigation, it was proven that he had nothing to do with this. He would have publicly claimed responsibility for brining National City’s beloved hero back already if it was him. This brought the entire investigation back to square one, Lord was the only lead they could think of.

Thara and Lor had been doing an amazing job at protecting the world, but now “Supergirl” was taking over most of the saving in National City. It soon became obvious to Lucy that being a hero was this Supergirl’s only job. Headlines like “Supergirl is Back and Better Than Ever” cover many news sources websites. People were still theorizing on how Supergirl returned from the dead, CatCo and the Daily Planet seemed to be the only news sources entertaining the idea that it was not the same person that everyone knew. Lucy had Cat Grant and her sister, Lois to thank for that. Seeing people say that the imposter was the real Supergirl had hurt for everyone who knew Kara. Lois and Cat did not was Kara’s sacrifice to be unnoticed by someone else pretending to be her. They all missed Kara.

All the DEO agents were sitting around throwing around ideas about what was going on with “Supergirl”. They were interrupted by James Olsen running into the room yelling, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”

“What’s going on James?” Lucy asked slightly annoyed that their meeting was interrupted.

“A picture of the imposter. I got it!” James answered immediately causing a commotion in the meeting room.

“Well, what are you waiting for Olsen? Show us.” J’onn ordered him. James hooked his camera into a projector and projected the image onto a wall for everyone to see. There was no way that the new Supergirl was Kara. The two looked almost identical, but this Supergirl’s suit was a brighter color and she did not have the same scar on her forehead that Kara did. Kara told them that she hit her head on a table in her home on Krypton when she was younger, resulting in a scar that she still had. If this were truly Kara, she would have the same scar. “James does Cat Grant or Lois Lane have a copy of this picture to run? Maybe we can prove to the public that this isn’t really Supergirl.” Alex asked.

“They both have it and are currently writing front page stories for it.” James answered. Then Lucy called everyone’s attention back to the photograph. They enlarged it to focus on something on her neck. There was some sort of logo and it was not long before they figured out what it meant.

_The Fortress of Solitude_

            Clark had been working nonstop for three weeks now. He was sure many people were worried about him. He was sure Lois was going to kill him for disappearing like he did, but he did not care. There was the important matter of his cousin that he needed to attend to. The surgeon at the DEO announced Kara’s death because he could not find a pulse and she was not breathing. She had told them Supergirl had died because, by human standards, she had died. In her tomb Clark heard a single heartbeat and a breath come from Kara. It could have been nothing, but he had to check and she was alive!

            Clark did his research and when a Kryptonian goes into a comma their heart will slow to a point where humans would consider them dead. Her heart was beating once a day and she did not need the same amount of oxygen that she did anymore, giving the effect of her “death”. The surgeon did not listen long enough for Kara’s heartbeat, so she believed the hero was dead. He locked himself in the Fortress of Solitude with all the Kryptonian technology he had and worked day and night to save his cousin.

            The AI Clark had of his father told him that Jor-El and Zor-El made healing pods for Kal-El and Kara that would work with the abilities they gained under the yellow sun. The fortress was massive so Clark was not surprised that he had not found these pods until now. He put Kara in one of them hoping it would work.

            Clark sat by the healing pod for the duration of the three weeks he was missing from the public eye. He made sure it was working and waited anxiously for Kara to wake up. He wanted to be there for her, to thank her for saving his life. He wanted to comfort her, it must be hard to go from being indestructible to almost dying and he wanted to be supportive. Clark recognized that he was not really there for Kara much after she got to Earth, but he wanted to change that.

Clark did not know he had a cousin that was supposed to have arrived with him. So, when a thirteen year old Kryptonian who just watched her world die arrived on Earth he did not know what to do. His people skill were never that great and he often would stumble over relationships, it was a wonder that Lois agreed to marry him. Despite this, he loved Kara, he asked his AI about her and he learned all about her. She was the first person to hold him after he was born. Kara was more excited about his birth than even his parents were. Had Krypton not been destroyed, the two of them would have been like brother and sister. Kara was forced to miss him growing up. He knew how much she loved him and he wanted to show her that he care about her too.

Clark was half asleep when he heard an alarm after sitting by the healing pod for three weeks. Looking up he saw that the pod was opening again. If it worked Kara would be all better now. He quickly got into position so that he would be the first thing that Kara sees. The pod slowly opened revealing Kara with her eyes still closed. Once the pod was completely opened Clark heard a moan coming from his cousin, her eyes opened slowly and looked around. Seeing her cousin in front of her she asked, “Clark what happened?” To which Clark responded with a big Kryptonian strength hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to let you guys know that this story should be updated on Sundays, Wednessdays and Fridays. The last chapter will be up the day of the season premier of Supergirl! (If all goes well)


	12. Is Supergirl Really Back?

“Clark as much as I appreciate the hug, it would be nice to know what is going on right now.” Kara said in Kryptonian surprised by her cousin’s reaction.

            “What is the last thing you remember?” He asked her speaking in Kryptonian himself. They continued their conversation in the language only the two of them knew.

            “We were fighting Brainiac and Alex told us to take him outside because he had no immune system. Did we win?”

            “Alex’s plan worked. Brainiac got deathly sick from being outside of his ship. While he was dying he tried to shoot me with a Kryptonite blast, but you jumped in front of it saving me.” Clark began to tear up at this point, “Everyone thought you were dead. Then an imposter was going around pretending to be you. The people of the world were all convinced it was really you. I was hoping it really was you so, I went to check on your gave, your body was still there. I was so upset that I almost didn’t hear your heart beat. You were in a comma.”

            “Kal, even on Krypton this is how comas worked.” Kara explained, “Everyone really thinks I’m dead?” Clark nodded. The cousin sat for a minute in silence as Kara absorbed everything that Clark had told her. “I guess we’ll have to go and tell them I’m not.” She said with a smile breaking the silence.

            Just before Clark was going to agree Kal-X came into the room interrupting them. “My apologies Kal-El and Kara Zor-El. The new Supergirl has been spotted at a bank robbery in the center of National City. If you want to confront her now is your best chance.”

            “It will be better to explain when there isn’t a fake Supergirl flying around, don’t you think Cuz?” Clark asked. Kara smiled, it would feel good to see who everyone in the city was convinced was her. They flew off in the direction of the bank robbery to confront “Supergirl”.

   _With the DEO agents_

            J’onn, Alex and Lucy lead three different teams into the building. As they entered, they showed their FBI badges and their search warrant to the security officer at the front desk and began to search for any hidden entrance ways to some sort of evil laboratory. Workers passed by confused and worried about why the FBI was searching the building.

            “I found it!” an agent yelled out. Alex, J’onn and Lucy ran over to where the agent was, he found a secret entrance into a basement area. J’onn led the teams down with Alex and Lucy right behind him. Guns out the agents looked around the room always aware. The room was filled with science equipment. Alex recognized some of the things and with a gasp she realized she knew what was going on with the imposter Supergirl.

_With Kara and Clark_

            Kara was happy. It had been a while since she’d flown. While she was in a coma she had a dream about Krypton. She saw the life she could have had there. She worked in her father’s lab and spent nights hanging out with Kal-El. Life was perfect for her on Krypton, but something did not feel right. Kara had grown to love Earth just as much as she loved Krypton, including the people. Her life did not seem right without working at CatCo World Wide Media, without James and Winn, without Lucy or J’onn. Her life seemed empty without her sister. Her sister…oh no, Alex must be miserable. Kara promised herself that she would try her best to make things quick with the imposter so that she could get back to Alex as soon as possible.

            “There she is.” Clark said, now in English, breaking Kara’s train of thought. Below them was a woman who looked exactly like Kara, at first glance. This woman had a brighter colored suit and she was missing the scar Kara had on her forehead. No better time than now, Kara thought as she flew down as the robbers were being put in a police cruiser.

            “Hey. I hear you’re trying to take my job.” Kara says as the imposter is about to fly away. Everyone’s attention turns to Clark and Kara, murmurs of confusing came in waves from the crowd of onlookers. “I really appreciate what you’ve done in my absence, but I’m back now.”

            “Who are you?” the woman asks.

            “I’m Supergirl.” Kara answers slightly confused.

            “That’s impossible. I’m Supergirl.” The imposter answers. The two women stare at each other in shock. They both full heartedly believe themselves to be the real Supergirl. The crowd is even more confused, there was only one real Supergirl.

            “Somethings not right here.” Superman said then pointed to Kara, “This is my cousin. I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’re not Supergirl.”

            “Yes I am!” the imposter yelled out, frustrated. In her rage she lashed out and attacked Kara. She tried to fight, but Kara was only fighting defensively. “Fight back imposter.” She yelled.

            “No! I won’t fight you. You’re clearly confused and probably being manipulated.” Kara said, “I won’t fight and innocent.”

            The fight continued for a few more minutes before everyone heard a voice yell “Stop!” On the ground was Alex Danvers along with J’onn J’onzz and Lucy Lane.

            “Alex! J’onn! Lucy!” Kara called out. She saw the smiles on their faces when they saw her, the joy of Kara being alive. Now was not the time for reunions though, now they had an angry Supergirl on their hands.

            “The Supergirl that we’ve all seen for months is not really Supergirl.” Alex explained to everyone. The imposter looked like she was going to protest, but Alex cut her off, “She thinks that she is because that is what she is supposed to think. She’s not a Kryptonian either, or a clone. She’s a man-made lifeform made of synthetic protoplasm, basically she’s a matrix. Her powers work differently, she has telekinesis to help mimic Supergirl’s powers and shapeshifting to make her look exactly like Supergirl.”

            “How do you know any of this is true?” Matrix asked, still angry, but now confused as well.

            “We just raided LexCorps.” Alex answered, “Lena Luthor wanted revenge on Superman for putting her brother in prison and ruining their family name. Her plan was to kill Supergirl and put her own hero that she could control in the city. She wanted to discredit Superman as a hero, make him seem like the villain while she, the woman who brought Supergirl back, was named a hero. Her plan was changed when Supergirl seemingly died, she was able to start her plan earlier than planned. She was trying to allow Matrix to get the trust of the people before revealing that she was behind this. She wrote down everything in her secret lab. We have it here.” Alex produced a USB that had the files from Lena Luthor’s computer.

            “Well I guess I should say something cliché, like ‘I could have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you pesky government agents.’” Lena Luthor said as she was brought over in hand cuffs by DEO agents and handed over to the NCPD. “This is not the end of the Luthors! We will come back and Superman and Supergirl, you will both pay.”

            Luthor was taken away along with the evidence against her. She was going to be in jail for a long time between trying to impersonate a public figure, illegal experimentation and plotting against a hero, she was going to have plenty of bonding time with her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last four chapters will be going up daily starting on Friday and ending on Monday when Supergirl returns for the new season.


	13. All is Right Again

Chapter 13: All is Right Again

            Matrix walked over to where Kara and Alex were hugging. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I owe all of you an apology. I acted horribly and I should have never listened to Lena Luthor.”

            Kara laughed, “There’s no need to apologize. You didn’t know any better.” Kara then walked over and gave Matrix a hug, surprising her.

            “What am I going to do now?” She asked the people around her, “I don’t think the city will appreciate a hero that was known to be controlled by a Luthor.” Kara was about to tell her that the people would just have to get used to Matrix when something rang in Alex’s pocket.

            “That’s the inter-dimensional phone Barry gave me before he left. He wanted to give us a way to easily contact him if we needed him.” Alex explained.

           She opened the phone and put it on speaker for everyone to hear Barry. “Hey guys. Just checking in to see how things are going.” Barry said through the phone.

            “Oh boy do we have a lot to tell you.” Alex said. The group gave Barry a quick rundown on what had happened.

            He was silent for a little bit then said, “Kara you’re alive?”

            “Yeah. I’m here and I’m OK Barry. I’m sorry I should have told you guys about the coma thing.” Kara told everyone.

            “Kara, you couldn’t have known that you’d fall into a coma.” Clark said.

            “Yeah. You’d practically invulnerable on this planet. No one would have believed it if they were told Supergirl would be in a coma. You had no reason to tell us.” Alex put a reassuring hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Now Barry this is Matrix.” She continued introducing Barry to Matrix.

            “Do you think I could try starting over on your Earth?” Matrix asked Barry.

            “Of course.” Barry answered without a second thought, “We could always use more help. We actually recently got a new speedster, Jessie Quick.”

            “She would need a new identity and we’d need to forge a lot of papers, but we can do it.” Barry’s friend, Caitlyn Snow said.

            “I think the name Karen Starr would fit me just right.” Matrix responded, “I heard Luthor use that name a lot. Whoever this person was she hated her, and I’m fine with that.”

            “Now you need a hero name.” Barry said, “Assuming you don’t want to be Supergirl anymore.” This earned a no from Matrix, she did not want to use the name of someone she was created to replace anymore, and she wanted to be a new person, her own person.

            “I got it!” yelled out Barry’s other friend, Cisco, “Powergirl, ‘cause you have so many powers, compared to the metahumans we have here.”

            “Powergirl.” Matrix said, “I like it. I’ll be Karen Starr and secretly Powergirl.” She smiled that now she had her own life to go to. Turning to Kara she said, “Thank you, Supergirl. You’ve helped me more than you can think. And thank you Barry, for welcoming me to your world.” Both heroes answered with a “no problem”.

            A few seconds later Barry arrived in his Flash suit to pick up Karen. Everyone said goodbye to her and she and Barry left. They knew they would see each other again, they just hoped that it would be a fun visit to another world and not another apocalypse situation.

            “I’m going to miss her.” Kara said after Karen was gone.

            “None of us knew her that long.” Alex joked.

            “I know, but she was created to be me. I feel like I’ve known her all my life.” Kara said, “Speaking of wich I should probably go to CatCo and try to save my job. Then tonight, Alex we can binge watch whatever you want.”

            “About CatCo,” Lucy said, “Cat Grant figured out that you were Supergirl. Thought I would warn you before you get there.”

_CatCo Worldwide media_

            Cat Grant was sitting at her desk looking at a blank document. Supergirl was alive, that meant Kara was too. Unless it was another imposter. No one at the DEO was answering her calls, so there was no way for her to be sure Kara was back. Winn and James had told her that Lena Luthor had been behind Matrix, as they had called the imposter Supergirl. Cat was not as angry at the imposter as she originally had been. The girl was being used as a tool by a revenge hungry villain.

            “Miss Grant.” Her newest assistant, Megan Morse, interrupted her impatient waiting.

            “What is it Mary?” Cat answered knowing fully that the girl’s name was Megan.

            “Detective Sawyer just called. Kara Danvers has been found and is on her way over here now.” Megan told her.

            “Thank you for telling me. Now back to work.” After her assistant left Cat let out a sigh of relief, Kara was alive. She had a lot of questions to answer, but she was OK. Cat had come to care for both Kara and Supergirl like daughters and friends. She wanted to give the girl a huge hug, but she had a reputation to uphold.

            Not too long later Kara walked into the office and was immediately lead into a secluded room by Winn, James and Cat. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” Cat said then realizing how angry she sounded added, “I am happy that you are OK though.”

            “No. You guys have a right to be angry. I never told anyone that when a Kryptonian goes into a coma our vitals slow down to what could be considered dead here on Earth.” Kara said sadly, “I’m just lucky Kal-El figured it out when he did or I really would be dead.”

            “Kara. I’m sure people have already told you this, but there’s no way you could have known that you would need to tell us that.” James told her bringing his friend into a hug. Kara began to cry, which in turn caused James to cry and Winn to join in the hug tears in his eyes.

            “Come on Miss. Grant I see those tears in your eyes.” Kara said to her boss with a sad smile. Cat let the tears flow and joined in on the group hug.

            “Any of you tell anybody about this and you’re fired.” Cat said through her tears making everyone give a small chuckle and promise her that this would be between the four of them.

            After their reunion Kara had to leave. She promised Alex that they would have a sleep over and finally finish their second watch through of season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In her Supergirl suit, Kara flew over National City back to her apartment. She smiled as she heard the crowds cheering for her. Rao was she happy to be back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I forgot to put this chapter up on this site


	14. Family Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning: there will be spoilers for the 5th and 6th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this chapter

Chapter 14: Family Matters

            Kara landed on her balcony and walked in to see Alex setting up everything so they could have their sister’s night. “You know tomorrow we’re going to have to go to Midvale so you can talk to mom, right?” Alex asked seeing that her sister had returned.

            “I know, but for now let’s just relax, eat pizza and watch the show. It’s been a rough two months for everyone and the two of us need a break.” Kara said walking back to her room to change into pajamas. The two sisters waited for the pizza to arrive before starting their party celebrating Kara being alive.

            A half hour of Alex catching Kara up on what she missed later, the four pizza pies they ordered had arrived. Kara got out plates for the food while Alex started up their Netflix account. Kara had already finished a whole pie by the time Alex started up the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In her defense, she had not eaten much, being in a coma for two months. Still, Alex teased her sister about her eating habits, as she often would and the two curled up on Kara’s couch with blankets and enjoyed the show.

            This was their second time watching through the entire show, they were waiting to get to the musical episode so they could sing along. They had been almost finished with the fifth season and ended up on the last episode of the season about two hours into their time together.

The sisters had almost forgotten about what happened at the end of the season. When Buffy sacrificed her own life so that her sister could live, they both broke down in tears. They had been holding in their emotions for when they were alone and now that they were they could not stop themselves. Alex and Kara knew that Buffy’s friends bring her back to life in the beginning of the next season, yet this made it worse for them. Alex felt what Buffy’s friends and sister felt in the moment where she died. Sure, Kara never actually died, but everyone thought she did. Kara was upset by her sister’s reaction, Alex usually was very composed and the only time she saw her cry was when they were told that Jerimiah Danvers had died.

Kara held her sister in the tightest hug she could manage without hurting Alex. Kara felt immensely guilty for making her feel this way. After everything Alex and her family had done for her she repaid them by making them think she was dead. “No.” Kara heard Alex’s muffled voice say, as if she was reading her mind. “Kara I know you too well. I know you feel guilty, but know that I don’t blame you, no one does. Anyone who would blame you, their opinion doesn’t matter. You Kara Zor-El Danvers have nothing to apologize for.” Tears started to flow anew from Kara’s eyes and they pulled each other closer.

“I promise that I won’t blame myself Alex. You know I always keep my promises.” Kara told her. Two sisters, both trying to comfort the other. They fell asleep like that, in a hug making sure that the other was all right.

Kara awoke to a tapping on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see the director of the DEO, J’onn J’onzz in her apartment standing over her. “J’onn! Don’t scare me like that.” Kara whispered realizing that Alex was still asleep.

“I’m sorry Kara, it’s just… I need to talk to you.” J’onn replied. They walked out to Kara’s balcony so that they would not yet wake Alex up.

“J’onn what’s wrong?” Kara asked. As an answer she got a super strength hug from J’onn.

“I am so sorry I was unable to protect your Kara.” J’onn said, Kara could hear tears in his voice, “Watching you die, it was like seeing my children die all over again. I’ve come to care for you and Alex as if you were my own children, I’ve grown attached to the both of you. Between your death and seeing Alex in so much pain…it was too much for me.”

“J’onn it’s OK. Alex and I see you as a father figure as well. What happened wasn’t your fault”

“I was unconscious. I should have been awake helping you and Superman.” J’onn argued back releasing the hug and showing his bloodshot eyes.

“You tried your best. That’s all I could have asked for. This situation is no one’s fault but Brainaic’s” Kara reassured him. She pulled him into a hug once again only to be interrupted by Alex.

“What’s going on here?” a groggy Alex said. Kara and J’onn laughed and pulled Alex into their big hug. “Guys…super strength…” Alex wheezed out causing the two aliens to stop and apologize. “I never said stop, just lighten up the hug a bit.” She grabbed the two of them in a human strength hug. The three of them smiled, they were all back together.

_Later that day in Midvale_

            “Don’t be so nervous Alex.” Kara told her sister.

            “Easy for you to say, she’s just going to be happy you’re alive. Me, she’s going to be mad at me for letting you die.” Alex argued.

            “She promised that she was going to be better about that remember.” The rest of the taxi ride from the airport was filled with Alex silently preparing herself. They arrived at their childhood home and rang the doorbell. Eliza Danvers, looking very disheveled, answered the door and let out a happy yell when she saw Kara and Alex standing there.

            “My girls! I’m so happy the two of you are OK.” She cried out as she pulled the two of them into a hug.

            “You’re not mad?” Alex asked.

            “Mad? Of course not. I just got the best news a mother could get. Both of my daughters are alive and well and their both heroes.” Eliza answered, “Now I’ve made both of your favorite pies. Come in! I want to spend all the time I can with you two.”

            “I told you so.” Kara whispered to Alex as they followed Eliza into the house, smiles on their faces.

_Fortress of Solitude_

            Two days later, Kara walked into her cousin’s fortress to find him, Thara and Lor-Zod all hard at work. “Do you guys need some more help?” Kara asked announcing her presence.

            “Kara! Shouldn’t you be spending time with the Danvers?” Clark asked her.

            “I have been. You three are my family as well. I need to have time with you.” Kara replied, “I hear you two have taken the names Christopher and Linda Kent. I always like the name Linda.” Thara walked over and gave her best friend a big hug.

            “I’m so happy you’re OK Kara.” Thara told her in Kryptonian.

            “Thank you for protecting this world while I was incapacitated.” Kara replied, also in Kryptonian.

            “I should have known that you were only in a coma, but after hearing what that human doctor said…I was so upset that I wasn’t thinking straight.”

            “Neither was I.” Lor added putting a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder, “We’ll leave you two cousins to talk while we work.”

            Kara turned to Clark after Thara and Lor left. “I’m proud of you baby cousin.” She told him still speaking in their native language.

            “Proud of me? Why? What did I do?” Clark asked defeated, “While you were gone I locked myself here. Thara and Lor are the real heroes here.”

            “You asked for help. It’s something I’ve noticed that you tend to stuggle with.” Kara told him. “Remember what I told you our family motto was?”

            “El Mayarah.” Clark answered.

            Kara smiled, “You’re parents would be so proud of you Kal-El” Kara brought her cousin into a hug.

            Their hug was interrupted by Thara running in and yelling, “I’ve got it! I know how to save Kandor!”

            “Now we just need the right place and we can create New Krypton!” Clark said excitedly. The four Kryptonians looked happily at each other, excited about the prospect of starting a new Krypton. Their culture will not die out.


	15. New Krypton

            “How did you do it?” Kara asked Thara.

            “Lor helped me reverse the effects of the shrinking machine in Brainiac’s ship.” Thara explained, “The technology of it was quite advanced, so it took us longer than we hoped.”

            “Now we just need to finish up repairs on Brainiac’s ship.” Clark said excitedly. He had only seen Krypton through pictures and Kara’s paintings, of course he was excited a piece of his home planet. Kara smiles at Clark’s excitement, he may be technically older than her now, but he will always be her baby cousin. The four of them immediately got to work fixing Brainiac’s ship so they can find a suitable place for Kandor.

            It took them another week, but they finally fixed the ship up into working order. Another week for Thara and Lor to figure out how to pilot it. Finally, they were able to leave Earth and set up Kandor in a safe area. The four Kryptonians all boarded the ship, but not before Clark and Kara said a quick goodbye to their friends. Unbeknownst to them their friends did not expect Superman or Supergirl to return to Earth after they got Kandor safely functional again.

            “Everyone ready to go?” Thara asked as she sat in the pilot’s seat next to her husband.

            “All ready.” Clark said.

            “Already started to scan for red stars that can sustain life.” Kara reported. She watched as the machine scanned while her friend launched the ship. She kept a close eye on the radar while they exited Earth’s atmosphere, she did not want to miss whatever they find. They headed in the general direction that Krypton was, hoping there would be something along the way.

            It was hard to tell time out in space. They did not know how long they had been searching before Kara finally got a signal. “Guy I’ve found something!” she exclaimed to everyone in the ship.

            “Where?” Thara asked ready to change where they were going. Kara gave her the coordinates.

            It took them a while to arrive at the location, but they finally got there. Once there, Lor-Zod put on one of the space suits that Clark had found in his fortress. He placed the glass cased city on an uninhabited planet that was a life sustaining distance from the red sun. Lor then returned to the ship and Clark readied the cannon to blast Kandor back to normal size. They all watched as a beam of light shot down at New Krypton and hit Kandor.

            Down on the planet the city of Kandor grew back to normal size and easily settled onto the new planet. The people cheered as they saw the ship come into view. Thara, Lor, Kara and Clark existed the ship to the cheering crowd below. They celebrated the renewal of their planet. Krypton was no longer a dead world, they could continue growing and learning.

            “How does it feel to see Kandor?” Kara asked Clark, who was taking in the view.

            “It’s unreal.” Clark answered, “I never thought I would be able to see any part of Krypton and now I’m standing here in the capital.” He was blown away with the beauty he saw in the city, it made him feel wonder and also sadness. He could have grown up here had Krypton not been destroyed.

            As if Kara could read his mind she said, “We could have grown up here together. I would have taught you all I know about the world. We would have grown up as siblings, our parents were that close.” She took a shaky breath before she continued, “But…then we would have never met the people on Earth that we did. We never would have met the Danvers, James, J’onn, Cat Grant the heroes from another Earth, Lucy, or Lois. We both care for them so much I don’t know what life would be like without them. I’m still sad about Krypton, I miss my parents and yours, but I don’t regret it happening anymore.”

Tears dripped down Kara’s face, Clark began to get a little teary eyed himself. Kara had lost so much, yet she still saw the positive side of things. Many other people in her situation would have just sat around feeling sorry for themselves, but Kara took her sadness and turned it into something good, something that she could save so many lives with. Clark smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. The cousins felt comfort in each other’s embrace and then when they released it they were ready to join in the celebrations.

The people of Kandor were very grateful to their heroes and promised that the four of them would be immortalized in statues at the center of the city. Clark made a joke about Kara getting yet another statue and everyone laughed and joked for more time.

Once the celebrations were over Thara and Lor let the cousins know that they were planning on staying in Kandor. “The two of you will always have a place to stay with is if you are planning on staying.” Lor told them.

Kara and Clark looked at each other and realized that they wanted the same thing. “Thank you for your offer Lor.” Kara said, “Earth is our home now. For us, Krypton was destroyed a long time ago, it has not been our home for centuries.”

“As much as we love it here we need to go home to our families.” Clark said with a sad smile, “You will always be welcome on Earth Christopher and Linda Kent or as Nightwing and Flamebird.”

Thara smiled, “And you two will always be welcome here Kara Zor-El and Kal-El or Supergirl and Superman.” They waved goodbye as Clark and Kara boarded the ship.

_Back on Earth_

            It had been a year since Supergirl and Superman left on their journey. Everyone on Earth had lost hope that their heroes were going to return. Of course no one blamed them either, they needed to go back to their people, and they were out of place on this planet. Most people accepted that their heroes needed to go home. This is why everyone was surprised when the ship returned with Supergirl and Superman on board. The people of Earth celebrated the return of their heroes.

            The celebrations went on while the two Kryptonians went to the DEO headquarters. There they found their loved ones who looked surprised at their return. Kara and Clark got offended that they thought the two of them would leave their family. “We love you guys and we’ll never leave you.” Kara said as she and Clark initiated a big group hug.


	16. Epilogue:  El Mayarah

            “Don’t make me start shooting.” A masked robber yelled at the people in a band in National City. He and three other men had come into the bank and were demanding money. One of them had a pregnant women is his arms with a gun to her head.

            “You wouldn’t want this woman’s death on your hands would you?” he said to the bank teller holding onto the woman tighter.

            “No one is dying today and you won’t be getting any money.” Supergirl told the robbers after she flew into the bank.

            “Get outta here Supergirl or else I’ll shoot this woman.” The man holding the pregnant woman yelled out. Supergirl just rolled her eyes and quickly used her heat visions to heat up the guns in the robbers hands and make them drop them. Then using her super speed she ran around and picked up the weapons. The robbers began to raise their hands in defeat when a shot was heard. Supergirl felt as a bullet bounced off her and hit the shooter in the shoulder. It was a fifth robber she did not know was there. She quickly brought the others out to the police and let them know she was bringing the fifth man to the hospital. Supergirl was able to bring the man to the hospital and save his life and everyone in the bank’s lives as well.

            It was another successful day for Supergirl. Everyone was safe and no one died. She flew over the city that she loved so much heading back to DEO headquarters. She was meeting up with Alex and J’onn for lunch, but she got held up stopping the bank robbery. Kara looked over at the statue of herself that still stood despite her still being alive. The people of National City knew she would give up her own life to keep them safe, and that was enough for them to continue honoring her with the statue and Supergirl Day. Kara smiled, she was happy that she could continue protecting the city.

            Kara landed in the headquarters of the DEO. She saw that the main control room was empty. “Alex? J’onn? I’m sorry that I’m late there was a bank robbery. Are we still on for lunch?” she asked.

            “Surprise!” the entire DEO plus Clark, James, Winn Eliza and Cat Grant yelled out jumping from their hiding spots.

            Kara, surprised, said, “It’s not my birthday. What’s going on?”

            “It’s Supergirl Day!” Winn said, “Have you forgotten already?” Kara laughed, she had forgotten that it was Supergirl Day today and she had not expected her friends to throw a party.

            “What better way to celebrate than throwing a big surprise party for the world’s greatest hero?” Alex said giving her sister a hug, “No offense Superman.”

            Clark laughed at Alex’s comment, “No offense taken Alex. I actually agree with you. Supergirl is a better hero than I could ever be. Happy Supergirl Day cuz.”

            Not long into the party there was an alert for an attack in Metropolis. “Would you like to help out your baby cousin?” Clark asked Kara.

            “I’m always ready to help Clark.” Kara said as the two of them launched into the air and headed for Metropolis.

When they got there they saw an android that was glowing green causing destruction everywhere. “Bring me Superman and Supergirl.” The android’s voice commanded, “I must bring them to CADMUS.” This alarmed Kara, CADMUS was looking for them, that’s where Jerimiah was being held prisoner.

“We need to take him down and bring him to the DEO. He could have information of Jerimiah Danvers’s whereabouts.” Kara old Clark and her nodded in agreement. Clark rushed forward to attach the android, but was shot with a green beam that him his arm. He looked at Kara in shock as blood ran down his arm.

“Superman, Supergirl how nice to finally meet you. They call me Metallo and my goal is to bring the two of you to where all aliens belong, CADMUS labs.” Kara was worried, Metallo clearly used Kryptonite as a weapon.

Then Alex’s voice calmed her down, “Don’t worry Kara you’re not alone in this. El Mayarah”

“Yeah.” Kara said with a smile on her face, “El Mayarah. We got this.” Together Superman and Supergirl attacked Metallo waiting for DEO backup. Today was no different from any other day, it was just another day in the life of a hero.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story! I am so grateful for all of you. I made my goal of finishing this story before the return of Supergirl. Now it’s time to get back to the real thing. I’m so excited for the premier of season two of Supergirl today and I hope all of you are ready.


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